Hudson's IL stint highlights flurry of roster moves

The Nationals made a flurry of roster transactions in advance of today's doubleheader against the Giants, most of them necessitated by their need to have fresh arms for the 14 innings scheduled on the heels of what turned into a bullpen game after Max Scherzer departed with a tweaked groin after recording only one out.

The promotions of right-handers Jefry Rodriguez (who may start tonight's second game) and Andres Machado (designated as the 27th man for both games) from Triple-A Rochester were moves of necessity. So, too, was the decision to push Joe Ross' scheduled start from tonight to Sunday, the thinking that he's more valuable in a nine-inning game than a seven-inning game.

And because they needed a couple of open roster spots for Rodriguez and Erick Fedde (who was activated off the COVID-19 injured list to start today's opener), the Nationals had little choice but to drop one bench player (Yadiel Hernandez, who was optioned to Rochester) and remove one other unavailable reliever (Daniel Hudson, who was placed on the 10-day IL with elbow inflammation) from the roster.

The Hudson transaction, of course, is the most significant of the bunch. It came two days after the veteran reliever woke up feeling sore, with some swelling in the back of his elbow. He informed the team of it, had an MRI performed Friday and was relieved to learn there was no structural damage, only inflammation.

"I don't have any concerns long-term," Hudson said during a Zoom session with reporters after the move was announced. "I think it's just a short-term thing. Hopefully, we can get that out of there and go from there. It's nothing structural, just did it as a precaution to make sure. Once we got the MRI results back, everything seems to be on track with that."

Hudson, who has twice needed Tommy John surgery in his career, admitted some initial fears when he realized his elbow was bothering him. But he immediately noted this discomfort was coming from the back of the elbow, an entirely different location than he has experienced pain when he tore his ulnar collateral ligament.

"Obviously, I've had some pretty catastrophic elbow injuries, and I don't feel anything similar to what I was feeling," he said. "It's just all in the back in the triceps area. There's nothing in the forearm, nothing in the elbow joint. It's just all in the triceps. That's why there was not really much concern for me."

Still, Hudson's injury comes at an especially inopportune moment for the Nationals, who have asked much of their bullpen over the last week and now must proceed for some indeterminate period without their best reliever.

Manager Davey Martinez, who has also seen veteran setup man Will Harris (transferred today to the 60-day IL) succumb to season-ending thoracic outlet syndrome, now must ask less-experienced relievers like Tanner Rainey, Wander Suero and Kyle Finnegan to take on added responsibility.

"We'll start playing a little more matchups in that role," Martinez said. "So I feel like we have the guys down there that can help us."

Hudson said he had not experienced any elbow discomfort until he woke up Thursday morning, several hours after he threw 31 pitches over 1 2/3 innings in the Nationals' 11-inning win at the Rays. That came during a five-game stretch in which he was asked to pitch multiple innings four times, giving up runs in three of them. In 18 appearances prior to that, Hudson owned a 1.00 ERA and 0.722 WHIP.

Hudson, during a lengthy answer to a question about how he decides when to tell a manager he's unavailable to pitch on a given day, detailed all the factors that go through his mind, including how his decision impacts other members of the bullpen.

"Obviously, there are days when maybe you're not feeling 100 percent," he said. "But for me, everything I do in between, I do just to make sure I'm available every day. It's just part of being in a big league bullpen. There's going to be stretches of time when it feels like you're throwing every day or warming up every day. And then there's also times when you don't touch the mound for a week. It's just part of it. And I kind of pride myself on, especially the last couple years, just being available.

"There's a thing with being a veteran in the bullpen where there's days when you're not feeling good. But guess what? You're good enough to pitch. And there might be a young guy who doesn't feel like he can stand up and say: 'I need a day (off).' Because of the volatility in the bullpen and the roster situation, guys in the bullpen can be so fluid. There's a day where a young guy says: 'I can't go, I need a day or two,' maybe the way the modern bullpen is run, maybe he gets sent down. It's just a part of being a veteran. If I feel like I can pitch, and Davey knows that I'm there, maybe he stays away from one of those young guys. Because I'm available. I kind of pride myself on that. I want to be available every single night, especially with how I was throwing the baseball. Because it's helping us win games.

"But at the same time, there is a little bit of times where you need to be smart. I hadn't had any issues going up to this. I felt great. I felt normal going into Wednesday. Just woke up Thursday morning and didn't feel so good. So here we are. Hopefully we just get through it and put it behind us."